I never thought I’d be the girl who would get tattoos, I always thought I would be the type who would keep myself as blank and as porcelain as possible because that’s what I was exposed to. Sure, as a child I’ve always drawn on myself and I’ve let others draw on me. At one point in all our childhoods, our skins served as scratch papers full of markers and pen marks.
But having something very permanent inked on you? That’s different.
I got my first tattoo at nineteen. It was a Hindu prayer which I still recite every now and then, especially when the world gets a little bit crazy and a whole lot rougher like it has been the past few years. The rest followed.
It’s true about tattoos – get one, you get them all. Thing is, I always tend to over think my tattoos. I want every tattoo on my body to symbolize something or someone; common sense would dictate it’s the sane thing to do, perhaps?
I don’t have a lot of tattoos compared to the vast majority of friends and acquaintances I’ve met over the years but I’ve learned that there will always be judgement from those that don’t understand this form of self expression. We do, after all, have the tendency as humans to judge what we do not understand.
You see, various people have various reasons for getting tattoos. Getting a tattoo isn’t about being cool, it’s not all about wanting to decorate ourselves with colors, drawings and words – but, and maybe this isn’t just me, we get tattoos to mark something beautiful in our lives.
To be a walking and living piece of art when done correctly.
Tattoos, for me, signify stories and living. It shows the documentation of your life, it’s not purely aesthetic and not purely rebellion. They are happy scars – permanent marks of how you have lived up until the next milestone.
So as I sit here, preparing myself for the next chapter of my life, I look at my arms and I quietly say goodbye to the blank spaces on it and say cheers to the remainder of 2013.
We have survived the apocalypse.
Now for fuck’s sake – just go do what it is that makes you happy.
May your scars show you a life you’re proud to document.
The Piranha Den 